Current Exhibitions


Draw Me a Story:

A Century of Children's Book Illustration

Through May 20, 2012

This exhibition provides an appealing survey of drawing styles and techniques from Randolph Caldecott in the 19th century to Chris Van Allsburg in the 20th—with many delightful and familiar artists in between including Ernest Shepard, Maurice Sendak, Tomie dePaolo, and Jules Feiffer.  The 40 works on paper by famed illustrators are supplemented by 13 books.

Draw Me a Story is staged with artworks hung slightly lower than usual, step stools available, and reading nooks in the galleries for visitors young and old.  The illustrations span 100 years and include detailed watercolors, expressive pen drawings and experimental combinations of media. Viewers get a sense of how an artist’s vision can tell a story with a single image or bring a familiar story to life in a new way. 

This family-friendly exhibition is complemented by Childhood at Clayton, an adjacent exhibition drawn from the Frick’s permanent collection related to childhood at Clayton—books, toys, games, clothing, and period photographs will focus on the play time, work time, and reading interests of the Frick children, Childs and Helen, while connecting their experience to larger cultural shifts—like new attitudes towards child development, the importance of education, and the emphasis on play as important to a child’s growth.

Draw Me a Story: A Century of Children’s Book Illustrations is a program of ExhibitsUSA, a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Eat'n Park   Support for the Pittsburgh presentation is provided by Eat'n Park Restaurants.


 



Hush-a-Bye, Baby

Kate Greenaway (English, 1846–1901), Hush-a-Bye, Baby from the book The April Baby’s Book of Tunes, 1900. Watercolor on paper. Collection: Cartoon Art Museum, San Francisco, CA

Draw Me a Story in the media


Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | Feb. 9, 2012
Frick exhibit draws on power of
children's book drawings


Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Feb. 9. 2012

Be a child again at the Frick:
Exhibit revisits book illustrations

Pop City Pittsburgh | Feb. 8, 2012

Draw Me a Story preview


Adult Education Programs
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Children's Education Programs
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Riding and Gliding with the Air-cooled Franklin

Through September 16

Car and Carriage Museum

Just in time for summer, a 1932 Franklin Series 16A Convertible Coupe is breezing into the Car and Carriage Museum. This sporty antique will highlight the unique history of the H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Company, which operated in Syracuse, NY, from 1902 to 1934.

During three decades of operation, Franklin produced 154,000 automobiles for the luxury market, touting its models for their light weight, reliability, and fuel efficiency. The company is best remembered for its pioneering air-cooled engine—rather than employing a radiator to cool the engine, the Franklin relied on an innovative system of direct air-cooling.


At the height of Franklin’s production in the 1920s, the burgeoning aircraft industry, which also used air-cooled engines, provided the automaker with a high flying marketing connection. In a 1930 advertisement the company proclaimed that Franklin’s “airplane-type engine” was a “great step in the automobile’s march towards progression,” and also linked its cars with celebrity aviators Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, and Frank Hawks. Franklin’s popularity inspired other automakers to try their hands at air-cooled cars, but no contemporary company was able to match its success. With several notable innovations to its credit, the Franklin remained the most well- known air-cooled automobile until Volkswagen’s famous Beetle. The weight of the Great Depression ultimately put an end to Franklin’s air-cooled run, but the company’s stylish cars, purchased in their day by an affluent and loyal clientele, are still revered by modern collectors.

 


Franklin

Franklin